Sunnydale Class of '99
by Cynder2013
Summary: A specific group of Sunnydale survivors gets together more than two decades after the event that brought them together.


Sunnydale High Class of '99

They gathered nineteen years later in an event hall in New York, far enough from the ruins of Sunnydale to be comfortable while still being in the continental United States. The hall was decorated with balloons and streamers in Sunnydale High yellows and reds. There were two tables in the centre of the room covered with photographs lit up by fake candles since they weren't allowed to have open flames in the hall. Most of the pictures were from someone's yearbook, enlarged and framed graduation photos of those who had died during graduation and in the years since. Larry, Percy, Jonathan, Cordelia and all the others, with the conspicuous absence of Harmony, smiled out from their frames. A few of the photos were of people who hadn't made it to graduation day, several of them taken from old yearbooks, but there weren't many. Most photos of those people were with family members that no one could contact or had been lost in the destruction of Sunnydale. Every single Sunnydale survivor stopped at the tables of photographs at least once, usually more than once, and said something for the dead.

There were thirty-seven of them left, thirty-five of them still alive. Spouses that weren't from Sunnydale and hadn't been read in on the nature of the town were confused by nearly everything that the Sunnydale survivors did during the reunion. Aura's husband stared blankly as she sobbed and hugged a girl who looked young enough to be their daughter. Aura didn't care; she had been so sure that she was the last of the Cordettes, but even as a vampire Harmony was still Harmony. Several people stopped to talk to what looked like an empty corner of the room unless you looked out of the corner of your eye and saw the pale, ghostly boy standing there. There was a mention of hyena people that made a one-eyed man cringe and two of the women, a blonde and a redhead, laugh. The blonde woman kept being greeted as "Class Protector" and anyone who asked why was given a smile and some variation of "You had to be there."

The strangest thing happened a few hours before midnight when Willow, the redheaded woman, got everyone's attention and began giving a speech.

"I know most of us haven't seen each other since graduation," Willow said. "Big snake, right?"

Sunnydale survivors nodded. Spouses looked confused.

"But we survived." Willow's eyes flickered towards Harmony and the ghost boy. "Mostly. The point is, we're all here, but a lot of people aren't. A lot of people never made it out of Sunnydale and now their graves are at the bottom of a lake. We're all that's left of our class. The highest graduation rate in the history of Sunnydale, and we're all that's left."

Aura's husband leaned towards her and whispered, "You never mentioned that you graduated with the smartest people in your town."

Aura scoffed. "Smart? We just had the lowest death rate. Now shush."

"It's our job," Willow was saying, "to remember them. To live for them. Our friends, our family, our classmates. Everyone who fell in battle, because we all know living in Sunnydale was a battle."

"Hell yeah it was," Tim Bushway said loudly. "Freakin' zombies, man!"

"Hyena people!" someone else shouted.

"Snyder!" nearly everyone chimed in.

The survivors laughed and significant others not in the know continued to look confused.

Willow smiled. "Yeah, all of that and all the other weird that went on in our town. We lost a lot of people to it and we have to remember them, even Snyder, though I'm sure not going to say that you have to _like _him."

Nearly everyone chuckled at that. Even people who hadn't been read in on Sunnydale weirdness had heard stories about how horrible Principal Snyder was.

"But we're going to live," Willow said. "Live for people like Jessie."

"Cordelia," Xander, the one-eyed man, said. "And Anya."

"Jonathan," a short blond man added.

Aura smiled sadly. "Blue and Aphrodesia."

"Theresa," Class Protector Buffy Summers said.

More people chimed in with the names of the dead and gone.

"Larry."

"Percy."

"Shanice."

"Gage."

"Katie."

As the list grew longer, the eyes of those who weren't from Sunnydale widened, even the ones who knew what had happened in the town. They couldn't believe that there were so many dead.

"David."

"Winter."

"Gwen."

"Lizzy."

"Chris."

"Kevin."

The thirty-seven former Sunnydale High students kept saying name after name. After a very long time they ran out of classmates and moved on to teachers.

"Principal Flutie."

"Ms. Calendar."

"Dr. Gregory."

The list went on.

"Ms. Bennett, from middle school."

"Mr. Donne, the guy who taught self-defence."

And on.

"My neighbor, Betty Thorne."

"My little brother, Charlie."

"Uncle Dan."

"Tara, my girlfriend."

"My mom, Joyce Summers."

"My mom."

"My dad."

"My sister."

It was more than an hour before they ran out of names all together. They knew there were more people, many more; they just didn't know their names.

Willow wiped a tear from her cheek. "All of them. We're going to live for all of them." Then she smiled. "Make sure you have a piece of the cake. Aura made it."

The emotional whiplash stunned the non-Sunnydale people. As everyone else went back to their high school reunion celebrations, the outsiders stared at each other with wide eyes. They didn't understand, and how could they? They hadn't grown up in Sunnydale.


End file.
